Stories by Isaac Anumihe

The just-concluded conference of Association of African Maritime Administrators (AAMA) in Nigeria was an assemblage of politicians at the highest level, led by the Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

Among dignitaries and organisations that attended the event, include  maritime experts and investors;  captains of industry and maritime organisations such as AMAA, Africa’s Ship Registry Forum, African Ship Owners Association as well as African Shippers’ Council and Seafarers’ Forum. Others include International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA),  Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Nigerian Institute for Transport Technology (NITT), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).

 About 34 African countries were represented at the world conference, including Mauritania, South Sudan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sao Tome & Principe; Senegal, Sierra Leone, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Comoros, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Benin and  DR Congo. Others  are  Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Kenya, Guinea, Libya and Nigeria as well as other non-African countries such as Jamaica, Netherlands and Malaysia.

 However, the issues that dominated discussions at the conference were how to secure the African waterways from the activities of pirates and the dumping of toxic waste on African waters by the western world.

But the most critical issue was the election of a new chairman of the organisation, which took most of the members’ time and energy. At the end of the day, Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, was unanimously elected as the new chairman of the association.

Peterside replaces the Acting Chief Executive Officer of South African Maritime and Safety Agency (SAMSA), Mr. Sobantu Tilayi, who had been on the saddle for four years. But beyond his emergence as the chairman of the frontline maritime association, Peterside inherited a lot of problems, which must be resolved before the end of his one year tenure.

The new chairman is expected to ensure that the African oceans are free from pirate activities. Also, member nations are concerned that Europe has converted the African oceans and seas as places to dump their toxic waste. This not only has affected aquatic lives, it has equally affected maritime trade.

There is also the need for the leadership of AAMA to increase Africa’s tonnage and development of other ship-building and marine infrastructure. This will increase the continent’s participation in global shipping activities.

The Secretary General of IMO who was represented by the Head, Africa (Anglophone) Section Technical Cooperation Division of IMO, Mr. William Azuh, cited the 2016 UNCTAD review of maritime transport, which indicates that out of the 35 top ship-owning countries in the world, which also make up about 95 per cent of world ship tonnage, none is an African country.

He charged the leadership of the association and member-states of the association to begin to develop the framework that would enable them take full advantage of the vast maritime potential embedded in the continent.

 “I,  however,  believe that the leadership of AAMA and your home governments will, when considering such statistics, seriously take into account the history of the national shipping lines and the reasons for their demise,” he said.

He added that the very high level of risk, which investing in the shipping industry entails and the benefits for the wider public, which can be realised if the funds were to be spent towards achieving national sustainable development priorities, should be taken into consideration.

Earlier, President Muhammadu Buhari had  identified  lack of synergy among member-nations and called for more collaboration among them. He called for improved synergy and collaboration among African countries to effectively attain a sustainable use of Africa’s oceans and seas.

The new chairman should also ensure that member nations train their cadets  and ensure effective implementation of international maritime instruments as well as ensure that they simplify their trade documentation and procedures.

Specifically,  Nigerian stakeholders argue that Nigeria controls the highest volume of traffic. Nigeria controls 70 per cent of total cargo throughput. This makes it have a controlling influence over the rest of other  maritime nations. So the chairman should also ensure that graduates from Nigerian maritime institutions have sea time experience to make them employable.

 However, a Nigerian maritime expert, Mr. Ismail Aniemu, expects the chairman to unlock the untapped fishing resources available in Nigeria. While listing the gains of being the chairman of the organisation, he has no doubt that Peterside would perform creditably because of Nigeria’s position in the West and Central African region.

 “Nigeria plays a leading role in maritime and oil matters in the West and Central African regions. Electing a Nigerian to chair the body of African maritime administrators is asking the nation to oversee a sector that has  an  influential stake.

“It affords the country an opportunity to be at the fore of regional and continental policy agreements and implementations as it concerns the sensitive area of maritime. Nigeria being a heavy importing nation and one of Africa’s leading oil exporter will lead other countries in tapping these maritime oil benefits. The concerted fights in the Gulf of Guinea against piracy and sea robberies will receive multi-national approach with strong likelihood of proximate maritime administrations keying in to stop the menace. Our large fishing resources remain untapped. This is one sub-sector that foreigners are illegally fleecing us.

“With full control and operational oversight of our marine domain, not less than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs can come to Nigeria through here. The ship repair and boat building potential have remained under-utilised. The new chair can harness available patronage within the West Coast for ship owners to do dry-docking of their vessels and boat-building in Nigeria at competitive prices. With many single hull vessels going out of use in line with extant IMO conventions, ship breaking opportunities that guarantee quick employments for unskilled labour stares at us. This is one area that ship owners’ wealth is rusting away in West and other parts of Africa.

“The new chairman can pool these resources for wealth and employment creation. Africa will now gravitate into being a potent voice in the comity of maritime nations as the new bloc will present the continent’s maritime administrations as united with a higher degree of cohesion,” he opined.


Group discredits committee set up to restructure MAN, Oron

A frontline advocacy group in the Niger Delta region, the Niger Delta Development Initiative (NDDI), has sent a letter  to President Muhammadu Buhari condemning the committee set up recently by the Minister of Transportation, Mr.  Rotimi Amaechi, to restructure the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN),  Oron, describing it as something done in bad faith.

A statement by the President of the association, Gabriel Thompson, and the Secretary,  Ita Umiom, said the recommendations of the committee, which is chaired by the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Chief Adebayo Sarunmi, should be disregarded as it is capable of igniting fire in the region, which has been calm for some time now.      

Outlining the reasons for condemning the committee’s report, the group said the Sarunmi-led committee is made up of men that have lost touch with modern realities in the maritime industry and as such did not interact with professionals in the industry.  

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“These professionals include the best sailors and mariners all over Nigeria who have deep knowledge of how maritime institutions are run internationally.

“The committee was wrongly constituted because when you put together a committee of such magnitude, you don’t bring people that do not have the knowledge of the requirements of STCW (Manilla Convention of 2010 as amended), the laws that guide international maritime activities now. The committee, the group said, even criticised the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) standards adopted by the institution.

“There is no way a committee can restructure an institution like MAN, Oron, without interacting with the critical stakeholders, including the host communities.

“The committee was skewed to negativity because its attention should have been focused on bringing recommendations that should make the academy a world-class institution that could compete favourably with countries such as Philippine and Singapore whose mariners occupy nearly all the vessels on the world maritime waters.”

 The group argued that provision of training vessel is critical to the academy because it will enable the cadets to participate in the mandatory sea time experience as required by the Standard of Training Certification and Watch-keeping (STCW Convention 2010); provision of relevant equipment, infrastructure, proper funding, creating enabling learning environment with qualified lectures, are the critical areas that need restructuring and not the human beings in the academy.

“The recommendation that directors of Oron extraction in the school, who have committed no offence whatsoever should be compulsorily retired,  is a misnomer.

“To show that the committee lacks required knowledge, the recommendation that the procurement department of the institution should be merged with works department is against the Procurement Act of 2007 and it also negates the spirit of due process and world best practices.

“The committee’s recommendations to tamper with the original organogram of the school which was approved by the federal government is also a misnomer.

“The membership of the committee is not only lopsided but is  full of those who have one grouse or the other against the people of Oron nation..

 “The problem of MAN, Oron is basically funding which should be properly addressed. Since the demise of the Nigeria National Shipping Line (NNSL), no cadet from the institution has had sea time experience because of absence of training vessel. This is an area the committee should have directed its energy at.

“Presently we commend the current leadership of the academy as it has been able to stabilise and reposition the institution for rebranding.

The minister should create an enabling environment that will sustain the present leadership, which the Niger Delta people are quite confident will steer the institution until such a time the institution is fully transformed into a maritime university.

.   “NDDI is fully aware of plans by the government to ensure that peace is fully sustained in the Niger Delta region.

“That any move to provoke unnecessary tension in the region through such restructuring  is human sabotage to the people of the region. 


NPA relocates 2 abandoned vessels on Brawal Oil Services waterways

As part of efforts to ensure that all vessels obstructing Nigerian waterways are removed, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has relocated two vessels – MV Tiger Fish and MT Gift – abandoned at the Brawal Oil Services Limited jetty in Onne, Rivers State.

In  a letter of appreciation signed by the Branch Manager, Brawal Oil Services Limited, Sylvester Agbotian, the oil-servicing company said the vessels occupied “a major chunk of our Jetty” and no payment was made for the period the vessels occupied their waterways.

The company, therefore, thanked the Onne Port Manager, Alhassan Abubakar, for ensuring that the abandoned vessels were  removed.

 “We pledge to continue to co-operate with you and support you in our own little way to enhance your effort at running Onne Port Complex profitably.”  

Recall  that following a series of complaints regarding the  abandoned vessels at Brawal Oil Services, NPA, Onne Port, on March 12, 2017, commenced the relocation and towing of the two vessels –MT Gift and MV Tiger – from Brawal anchorage (Berth) in FLT to JTF jetty along Okrika Creek.

The vessels were beached at the JTF jetty at the instance of the JTF Sector Commander.

Meanwhile, the  Ele Community, a  host community to Onne Port Complex, has thanked NPA for good Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In a letter, the community thanked the management of NPA for the recognition of Ele Community as one of the host communities in the port complex.

“The people of Ele Community heartily express their gratitude and appreciation to the Managing Director of NPA, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, for the kind gesture which include the provision of food items and the recent proposal to provide potable water and internal slab road network for the community,” the community  said.

They noted that the giant strides of the new management of NPA will enhance further unity, understanding and peaceful co-existence with the host communities.